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Assessing and Ranking EU Cities Based on the Development Phase of the Smart City Concept

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  • Diogo Correia

    (Research Unit on Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policies (GOVCOPP), Department of Economics, Management, Industrial Engineering and Tourism (DEGEIT), School of Design, Management and Production Technologies—North Aveiro School (ESAN), University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal)

  • João Lourenço Marques

    (Research Unit on Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policies (GOVCOPP), Department of Social, Political and Territorial Sciences (DCSJP), University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal)

  • Leonor Teixeira

    (Department of Economics, Management, Industrial Engineering and Tourism (DEGEIT), Institute of Electronics and Informatics Engineering of Aveiro (IEETA)/Intelligent Systems Associate Laboratory (LASI), University of Aveiro, 3010-193 Aveiro, Portugal)

Abstract

Policymakers face numerous challenges in benchmarking and assessing cities’ current development states. This study extends the understandings of previous research to provide a new perspective about how to rank smart cities’ developments by comparing the existing initiatives with city population density (as a proxy of socio-demographic characteristics) and the respective smart city phase. Quantitative analysis was performed to cluster the European Union cities according to the number of existing projects in the literature organized by smart city categories. Furthermore, to allow for the assessment of the city’s state, a composite indicator was developed that takes into consideration the different category weights to ultimately provide a smart city ranking. By clustering the categories using a Principal Component Analysis (PCA), it was possible to relate them with a specific smart city phase. In addition, for a reasonable benchmark, the city’s population density was considered. Moreover, this paper ranks the cities of the European Union and provides insightful information about the development phase of the smart city concept of each territory. The results show that on a normalized scale of 0 to 1000, the largest cities or the ones with most initiatives do not rank first. Furthermore, it shows that in similar socio-demographic contexts, there are variations in the smart city stage. Therefore, applying the contribution and findings of this research can help identify these differences and establish a set of best practices for improving the design and effectiveness of smart city strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Diogo Correia & João Lourenço Marques & Leonor Teixeira, 2023. "Assessing and Ranking EU Cities Based on the Development Phase of the Smart City Concept," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-34, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:18:p:13675-:d:1238942
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Margarita Angelidou, 2017. "The Role of Smart City Characteristics in the Plans of Fifteen Cities," Journal of Urban Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(4), pages 3-28, October.
    2. Vito Albino & Umberto Berardi & Rosa Maria Dangelico, 2015. "Smart Cities: Definitions, Dimensions, Performance, and Initiatives," Journal of Urban Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(1), pages 3-21, January.
    3. Mosannenzadeh, Farnaz & Di Nucci, Maria Rosaria & Vettorato, Daniele, 2017. "Identifying and prioritizing barriers to implementation of smart energy city projects in Europe: An empirical approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 191-201.
    4. Camboim, Guilherme Freitas & Zawislak, Paulo Antônio & Pufal, Nathália Amarante, 2019. "Driving elements to make cities smarter: Evidences from European projects," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 154-167.
    5. Willem van Winden & Daniel van den Buuse, 2017. "Smart City Pilot Projects: Exploring the Dimensions and Conditions of Scaling Up," Journal of Urban Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(4), pages 51-72, October.
    6. Martina JANUROVA & Marketa CHALOUPKOVA & Josef KUNC, 2020. "Smart City Strategy And Its Implementation Barriers: Czech Experience," Theoretical and Empirical Researches in Urban Management, Research Centre in Public Administration and Public Services, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 15(2), pages 5-21, May.
    7. Nripendra P. Rana & Sunil Luthra & Sachin Kumar Mangla & Rubina Islam & Sian Roderick & Yogesh K. Dwivedi, 2019. "Barriers to the Development of Smart Cities in Indian Context," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 503-525, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Enrico Barbierato & Alice Gatti, 2024. "Decoding Urban Intelligence: Clustering and Feature Importance in Smart Cities," Future Internet, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-30, October.

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